The Faint @ The Glass House - December 9, 2006

I had the opportunity to see The Faint this last Saturday in Pomona at The Glass House.

The openers were The Deadly Syndrome and Passage. The Deadly Syndrome was creative, pulling in a wide variety of styles that reminded me of everything from Wolf Parade to The Decemberists to The Violent Femmes and a thousand other references I couldn’t possibly put names on. They’re apparently a pretty new band on the circuit, but I think they’ll do well. They really engaged the crowd and had a lot of positive energy. They did their best when the vocalist wasn’t playing guitar or bass, because his stage presence worked wonders.

Passage, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say that he didn’t follow a cardinal rule of opening acts: don’t perform like you’re better than your audience, or in any way make your crowd feel as though you are patronizing them. You don’t gain fans that way. Aside from that, he was a white hip hop/rap act playing for people who like 80’s synth pop, so he was going to have to work hard to make fans. During an awkward pantomime to random commercial audio clips, there were several shouts of “We don’t get it!” and “You’re not funny!” but he just kept on going. Enough about him though…

The Faint were great. As someone who doesn’t like to dance in any way, shape or form, this was probably the most fun I’ve had listening to dance-ish type music. They played a great mix of songs from Blank-Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth, as well as two or three new songs that I’m assuming will appear on their upcoming release. The new stuff was good; not anything unexpected, but a little darker at times, especially during one Depeche-esque number. They also had the entire show synced to video that went along with each song, making the experience complete in every way.

In no particular order (and excluding the new songs) here’s what I remember them playing:

• Dropkick The Punks
• Paranoiattack
• Worked Up So Sexual
• Desperate Guys
• How Could I Forget?
• In Concert
• Let The Poison Spill From Your Throat
• I Disappear
• Call Call
• Glass Danse
• Agenda Suicide
• Birth

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed at this show, so I have no Flickr goodness to share.